The Misconception About Protein: What Nutrient Should We Really Be Worried About?

Updated: Jan 14, 2019

When I became vegan I never anticipated I would be asked one question more times than I can count. If you're vegan I'm sure you can already guess which question I'm referring to...

"Where do you get your protein from?"

The whole idea of protein has grown in popularity especially with new diet trends such as the Keto, Atkins, Paleo and other variations of a low carb, high fat diet.

We've always been told that meat is high in protein so we tend to associate protein with animal meats. So when someone hears that you're going vegan or are vegan already they wonder how you'll survive without eating in their eyes the main source of protein.

The interesting part is most people don't even know how much protein you need or how much protein a typical person eats in a day.

Do you know how much protein you should be getting?

If you know the answer to this one kudos! Because I had no idea what the answer was.

Don't let the numbers scare you. Yes, it's nice to know but protein is in everything and yes plants have all the amino acids required to build a complete protein. In fact, soybeans itself is considered a "protein powerhouse" because it contains all the amino acids and it has the most plant based protein a human can consume!

Now that we know how much protein we need the question now becomes how much protein are we already getting in a day? These numbers may surprise you:

Vegans on average get 70% more protein than is needed in a day! That's around 75 grams only slightly below meat-eaters.

Meat-eaters on average are getting almost 80 grams a day.

Health Canada published in 2012 that 99-100% of adults met the protein requirement.

This is great news! And everyone was worried ;D

As a society we shouldn't be worried about protein but instead we should be focusing on nutrients that we are lacking in. Let's take a look at one of the nutrients most are not getting enough of fiber.

The answer is quite simple actually because fiber is only found in whole plant based foods. So it's no wonder that people who mostly eat animal foods will lack this nutrient and vegans who solely eat plant based foods will be getting plenty of fiber.

Why is fiber so important?

There are a lot of health benefits from eating fiber such as:

Improves digestive health

Lowers cholesterol levels

Reduces blood glucose levels

Maintaining a healthy weight

Key takeaway is that if you're eating a well balanced meal full of whole grains and whole plant foods you don't have to worry about getting enough protein or fiber. Every nutrient we need to survive is in plants (except B12, read more about vitamins on my blog post: Stay Energized With These Essential Vegan Supplements).

So the next time someone asks you where you get your protein the real question should be to them:

One last thing. Below is a video that I came across during my research for this article. Dr. Michael Greger is very knowledgeable and gets all his data from research. This video pretty much sums up what I just covered. Enjoy!